Friends Forever
by IAmYourPhobia
Summary: Ironhide contemplates his friendship with five-year-old Annabelle Lennox. One Shot WARNING: Intro contains TF3 spoilers.


**Warning: TF3 Spoilers Ahead**

_I just saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon and felt inspired to write something. It was a good movie in all, had some new interesting characters, had great special effects as usual, and so forth. But they had to kill Ironhide! Why is it always my favorite? Anyways, at least he got some great action in the movie, though it sucked the way he died. They should have had him go down fighting, not being betrayed. Anywho, I wanted to do a dedication to Ironhide. This involves a sort of mixing of the movieverse and former canon. Hope you enjoy!_

Disclaimer: _I do not own Transformers, Ironhide, Annabelle, etc etc..._

Friends Forever

_Against the grain should be a way of life_  
><em>What's worth the prize is always worth the fight<em>  
><em>Every second counts 'cause there's no second try<em>  
><em>So live like you'll never live it twice<em>

_If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback_

It was a fairly warm day in Arizona, with the desert heat not quite stripping the black off the asphalt of an old highway in the present rural area. A cool wind passing over the mountain range in the distance instantly became a blast of scorching air as it swept across the dusty landscape.

This, however, did not halt the progress of a determined young girl making her way down the side of said aforementioned highway.

Five-year-old Annabelle Lennox, a small fair-haired child with a knack for trouble, had decided to take herself for a walk.

Everyone, including her parents Will and Sarah Lennox, had been too busy to play with her, so she had determined that she would entertain herself.

One would wonder why walking beside baking asphalt in a desert would be entertaining to anyone, but Annabelle seemed to find great delight in it.

Skipping along in the blazing heat, she sang little songs to herself and picked up the occasional rock to throw as hard as she could. Now and then she stopped to poke a lizard and giggle as it scurried off in fright, not knowing that a frantic search was being conducted for her present whereabouts.

In the distance, a loud V8 engine could be heard as an automobile raced closer towards her location, sounding like it was picking up speed. This alone would have been a warning sign to most, but Annabelle was young and too absorbed in her play to notice.

Leaning down to pick up a particularly interesting rock, she didn't see the huge SUV that topped a hill right behind her.

The vehicle swayed erratically across the road, the driver too drunk on cheap whiskey and beer to notice the little girl in his path.

Finally becoming aware of the danger she was in, Annabelle's eyes widened in terror as she turned and saw the vehicle veering towards her.

There would be no time to get out of the way.

Just as the SUV was about to make impact, an enormous black GMC TopKick charged out of nowhere and rammed the side of the rampaging vehicle, its louder diesel engine roaring almost angrily.

The SUV was sent flying into a roll, eventually coming to a halt on its wheels with its whole passenger side caved in.

The backdoor of the TopKick's cab swung open and a deep gruff voice emanated from within it.

"Annabelle, _get in_."

Needing no coaxing, the frightened girl ran towards her family's guardian and her best friend, the Autobot Ironhide.

After leaning over so that she could climb in, he quickly closed the door and placed a seat belt around her. Giving the drunken human in the SUV one last scan to make sure he was intact, Ironhide growled in disgust and turned in the direction of the Lennox's home. Tapping into Will's cell, he informed the anxious father that Annabelle was safe and that paramedics would be needed for an intoxicated driver in a wrecked SUV.

Ironhide hadn't seriously harmed the human, as his orders were to not do so no matter how angry he got, but Primus knew he had wanted to. If Annabelle had been hurt…

He shuddered as he drove down the road.

Though the old warrior mech didn't want to admit it outloud, he had become quite attached to his little protectee. As it was, he had at least put the drunk driver out of commission for awhile.

"Thank you, Iwonhide." sniffled Annabelle as she curled up into the leather of the Autobot's seats in order feel safer.

At five, she wasn't able to correctly pronounce his name for she had trouble with r's. Though he often griped about it, he secretly found it kind of endearing.

When she had been an infant, Will had often brought her outside and let her gaze wide-eyed at the giant bipedal mech above her.

When she started to crawl and then walk she began to come out on her own to visit him, which usually ended in her playing in his bed when he was in alt mode or on his feet when in his true form.

Her parents had been delighted with her and amused at his shocked expression when her first word had been "Hide", the only version of his name her young vocal cords had been able to manage at the time.

Squeezing the girl reassuringly with the seatbelt, Ironhide grumbled at her in a tired tone. "You're welcome, sparkling, but don't run off like that. You frightened your parents and nearly gave me a spark attack."

As he pulled into the Lennox's yard, Sarah quickly flung open the driver's side door of her Ford Mustang as Will opened the passenger side.

Judging from the skid marks in the dirt and the dust covering the car, Sarah had come flying to the house at top speed when Will received Ironhide's call. The hardworking mother had been a drag racer when she was younger and knew how to maneuver a vehicle at top speeds.

Running towards the Autobot, the anxious parents quickly pulled their child from his cab.

Annabelle, who was happy to see the comforting sight of her parents, eagerly reached for them as they picked her up and held her.

"Thanks, Hide. We owe you big time." Will said as he patted the big truck on the hood.

"You don't owe me anything. I'm a soldier. It's my duty."

With the hissing of hydraulics and the distinct sound of sliding metal, the Autobot transformed into his large true form.

Standing at twenty plus feet and with shoulders almost as wide as he was tall, he made a large and intimidating figure, though Annabelle never seemed to fear him.

As he turned to go stand watch at one of his usual posts, she cried his name and squirmed to be let down.

"Iwonhide!"

Glancing back, he raised a metallic opticbrow at the femme sparkling as she rushed after him, her parents grinning in amusement the whole time.

"Up!" she called, lifting her arms and craning her head back to see his face.

Sighing and rolling his optics, Ironhide bent down and placed one giant metal hand on the ground, palm up. After Annabelle had climbed on, he slowly rose, gingerly cupping the small human to make sure she didn't fall.

Keeping his hand steady so as not to jar her, he made his way to the large wooden barn that sat within a short distance from the farmhouse in which his charges lived. The sturdy old barn used to store some rusted farm equipment and a broken down tractor, but that had all been removed so that the barn could be converted to a shelter for Ironhide.

Annabelle smiled and looked up at him.

"Is Iwonhide gonna play boom boom?"

The black mech laughed, his deep baritone voice vibrating his metal body.

He had once taken the whole Lennox family to the Air Force hangar that served as the Autobot Headquarters. Will had had some military business to take care of and had decided it would be a good chance for his wife and child to meet the rest of the Earth's new protectors.

Ironhide had taken the opportunity to do some target practice because it was not possible at his charges' home, which could bring unwanted attention.

Powering up his cannons until they were primed and glowing, he had fired off several rounds outside the base while completely obliterating junkyard cars in the process.

As he had powered down, he had heard giggling behind him. Turning, he had seen Will and Sarah standing at a safe distance and holding Annabelle, who had been clapping and studying his cannons with fascination.

His mouth stretching into a rare grin that didn't involve the death of a Decepticon, Ironhide had nodded his head towards the girl and spoke to her parents. "She will make a fine soldier one day, Will. She already has a love of firepower."

Coming out of his thoughts, the big mech shook his head at Annabelle.

"No shooting today, sparkling. You know the rules."

Annabelle looked disappointed, but shrugged her shoulders and looked ahead to where he was walking.

Picking a spot where he could see a good deal of the Lennox property, Ironhide sat and leaned his back against the barn before gently placing Annabelle on his shoulder. She promptly began to crawl around amongst his armor and over shoulder joint, happily exploring her surroundings while he kept a watchful optic on her.

He was always shocked at the resiliency of human sparklings. She had been through a terrifying ordeal, one that would have had a much older being of her species still feeling fear, but she "bounced back as always", like Will had a habit of saying.

Cybertronian sparklings did much the same thing. Maybe they weren't so different from humans after all.

Glancing over, he watched as Annabelle slid down his chest plate that consisted of the hood of his alt form and moved closer to his face. Before she could topple off, he quickly placed a finger near her so she could steady herself.

Cupping his hand, he watched carefully as she climbed on and examined each of his metal digits.

He always tried to be extremely gentle with her and would feel beyond guilty if she were ever harmed because of him. She trusted him with her life, and he planned on her maintaining it.

He had vowed to always keep her safe, and not just because she was his charge. Ironhide had developed a bond with the human sparkling and thought of her in a way as his own.

He remembered when two of his former trainee Autobots had once decided to pay him a visit on the Lennox farm and had learned that fact the hard way.

Ironhide had been standing guard that day as usual from one of his many outlook posts.

That day had been a little different because he had been left in charge of Annabelle while her parents went on a short trip to town. They had insisted that he not come with them, their secret reasons being that they thought it would be good for him to spend time with Annabelle and that they wanted time to themselves.

Though he hated to think of himself as a babysitter and would have shot anyone for referring to him as such, he didn't mind watching over the girl.

While she had been playing in the sand with a toy truck that looked suspiciously like him, he had received a radio transmission from the leader of the Autobots.

"Go ahead Optimus."

The calm baritone of Optimus Prime answered, sounding slightly amused which immediately put Ironhide on edge. Something that was amusing to Optimus probably would be highly irritating for him.

_"Greetings, Ironhide. I wanted to let you know that you will be having some surprise visitors shortly. They just arrived and wanted to see their old combat trainer. Will this be alright with your charges?"_

"Visitors? My charges are gone for the moment, except for their sparkling. I was asked to watch her."

Sensing two incoming Autobot presences on his radar and hearing their twin Lamborghini engines coming down the road, Ironhide groaned in frustration.

"Slag it all, Prime! You had to give those two my location?"

Optimus could be heard chuckling through the transmission.

_"Have fun, old friend."_

The link shut off.

"BOO!"

Ironhide's spark gave a lurch when he heard Annabelle scream in fear.

Before he could charge forward, she had come tearing around the corner of the house and had run straight for him. Ducking behind one of his enormous legs, she had peered around him in the direction she had come from.

"Bad wobots!" she had growled, her eyes narrowed in anger.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, the Autobots that had caused the ruckus, had sensed the human child's presence when pulling up and had been immediately fascinated. They had never seen a human sparkling before, and, unfortunately, had decided to try and interact with her.

Researching the Internet through their central processors, the red and yellow mechs had attempted to engage her with peek-a-boo. Not meaning any harm and not realizing Annabelle would be afraid of strangers, they had transformed into their true forms and had done just that.

Running around the side of the house in playful pursuit, they had both realized they had done something wrong when they saw the murderous look on Ironhide's face. They had only enough time to simultaneously mutter "Oh slag!" before two metal fists connected with their faces.

A week later, after the Autobot medic Ratchet had repaired them, they had heartily apologized to Annabelle, her parents, and Ironhide.

Though he slightly regretted beating them that badly when they were just naïve, he didn't regret his automatic reaction of protecting Annabelle.

Chromia, a femme Autobot and his "girlfriend" of many years ago, as the humans called it, had once told him that he may be a tough old mech but he had a big spark. He wasn't one to lavish affection, that just wasn't his style, but he did show he cared through his extreme devotion and protectiveness of the ones he cared for.

"Iwonhide?"

The black mech came back to the present when the sparkling spoke, her voice sounding sleepy.

She was sitting on his hand with her feet dangling over the side, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She was exhausted from the day's events.

"Yes Annabelle?"

"Will we be fwiends fowevah?"

Ironhide paused, not sure how to answer.

"Well, forever is a very long time. Infinite and impossible to imagine…"

He trailed off when he realized she was curled up in his hand and fast asleep.

Smiling softly, he reached out with his other hand and gently stroked her hair with a pinky digit.

"Yes, sparkling, friends forever."

He didn't miss the small smile that formed on her sleeping face and her happy sigh.


End file.
